CHENANGO COUNTY – Chenango United Way’s 2007 campaign came to a close last week as board members, business representatives, volunteers and community members gathered at the American Legion in Norwich to celebrate those who donated their time and money to the organization and those who were helped as a result.

The campaign raised $450,009 in donations for the community, exceeding last year’s amount by $20,000.

Jane Coddington, the executive director of Catholic Charities, was the first to talk about how her organization uses funding received by the United Way.

Roots and Wings, a program addressing the poverty issues of housing and hunger, provides necessity items such as diapers, food and detergent to people unable to afford them. The necessity items, Coddington explained, represent “the roots” of the program and the organization itself strives to help individuals achieve self sufficiency, which they see as “the wings.”

“The sheer number of people we see is the only barrier to helping individuals achieve self-sufficiency,” Coddington said.

In 2007 the organization provided 3,852 households with 203,940 meals and helped 8,328 households find household goods.

“Our goal for 2007 was to build capacity. We needed to be able to serve the high numbers of people we see more efficiently. United Way funding helped us to do that,” Coddington explained. In addition, 187 out of the organization’s 350 new consumers had intake referrals to other community services, and those who received referrals came less frequently than those who did not, a sign that they were becoming more self sufficient.